In 1910 Minnesota, Nilda Carlson's dreams are coming true. Though her first few months in America were difficult, her life now resembles the images that filled her daydreams in Norway. She and her younger brother Ivar live in their own house, just a short distance from her older brother and his family. Together they work the farm and fell trees for lumber. They plan to grow a dairy herd, weave rugs out of their own wool, and make skis to sell. Everything is going right. The only thing missing from Nilda's life is love. But though she has two suitors--a quiet schoolteacher and a handsome lumberjack--Nilda feels hesitant. A terrifying experience in Norway has made her cautious where men are concerned. When she thinks she sees the man in question, all her fears come flooding back. Is it possible the danger has followed her across the Atlantic? If Dreng Nygaard is truly in Minnesota, all of her dreams for the future could come crashing down around her.

"'I am trapped,' she screamed silently, no one in the room hearing her inner pleas. 'I am trapped in a cage of poverty and mediocrity and If I don't get out I will die.' Only the sound of her typewriter could be heard that night echoing throughout the shack that she had called home. Grace Metalious wrote the stories that no one dared to write before that time. A midcentury tale of small-town life in New England to the hustle and bustle of New York City and to the unforgiving film studios of Hollywood, her story unfolds. Her infamous novel Peyton Place catapulted her from obscurity to the top of the literary world. This is a classic scenario where art imitates life and so does this novel. The young author coping with literary and financial success, without realizing it creates her own Peyton Place where she herself had to reside. The seasons of Grace is a fictional account based on the author's life; sometimes dark, sometimes shocking, but always authentic"--Back cover.

The loving hand of God is at work in even the most unsettling circumstances... In the seemingly ordinary Amish home of Grace Byler, secrets abound. Why does her mother weep and wander deep in the night? And why does her father refuse to admit something is dreadfully wrong? Then, in one startling moment, the quiet life Grace has known is irrevocably altered, leaving her to question all she has been taught about love, family, and commitment. "No one does Amish-based inspirationals better than Lewis." Booklist

Nilda Carlson has been trying to save enough money to go to America for months, so when a letter from Einar and Gerd Strand arrives, offering to pay her ticket, she jumps at the chance. Her younger brother Ivar accompanies her, and they can't wait to join their brother Rune and his family in the northern forests of Minnesota. Signe and Rune Carlson are thrilled to welcome Nilda and Ivar to America, but life on the farm remains a struggle. Though Gerd has softened and grown to love the Carlson family, Einar is still harsh and unforgiving, obsessed solely with felling as many trees as possible. Rune is trying to build a new home for his wife and children, but Einar refuses to help and forbids anyone from the nearby community from stepping foot on his land. What dark secret must lie in his past to have caused him to isolate himself--and anyone living under his roof--in this way? When a tragedy lays the truth bare, the Carlsons and Strands will have to come together like never before and become a true family.

"Within the struggle, joy, pain, and delight that attend our life, there is an invisible circle of grace that enfolds and encompasses us in every moment. Blessings help us to perceive this circle of grace, to find our place of belonging within it, and to receive the strength the circle holds for us." -from the Introduction Beginning in Advent and moving through the sacred seasons of the Christian year, Circle of Grace offers Jan's distinctive and poetic blessings that illuminate the treasures each season offers to us.

"Preach the Word...in season and out of season..." 'Grace in Season: The Riches of the Gospel in Seventy Sermons' joyfully fulfills these words of St. Paul. This matchless collection of Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia's preaching, alive with the wisdom of the Dominican tradition, the Church Fathers, and the Communion of Saints, opens Sacred Scripture and shows forth the unchanging glory of the Good News. The light of that glory illuminates every season of human life, revealing the loving hand of God's providence at work in both the extraordinary events and the ordinary moments of salvation history. A ready and refreshing tonic for those who thirst for the living water of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 'Grace in Season' also provides for other preachers, as Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., writes in his Foreword, "a model for gently but effectively subjecting the vain restlessness of the world to the merciful restlessness of the Word." --

'The perfect read for a cosy winter's evening beside a crackling log fire' Sussex Life Diamonds are forever. And hold a thousand secrets... When Grace Manners moves to a little cottage on the Wittering Manor estate, she hopes it will be the perfect new beginning after her life was torn apart seven months ago. Ever since her husband disappeared, along with most of their money, Grace has struggled to make ends meet - but now, working for the eccentric Fraser Stratton, she has her own space to make her delicate jewellery once again. Yet as Grace begins to uncover the story behind a beautiful diamond brooch, she becomes drawn into a mysterious family secret that threatens to destroy what little she has left... Praise for Kate Lord Brown: 'Absolutely exquisite' Marian Keyes 'A wonderful, escapist, nostalgic read' RED 'Sweepingly romantic' Katherine Webb 'Captivating' YOU 'A story of love and adventure, of loss and pain, and heroism' DAILY MAIL ---------------------------------------------------- Previously published as The Christmas We Met